The closest night of badminton that we have ever encountered…

By Katie Garner

Match Results (Wychelm results first, best of three games):

Ladies Doubles: Katie and Jess:  20-21 / 20-21

Mixed Doubles: Helen and Stuart E: 10-21 / 13-21

Mens Doubles: Het and Stuart B: 11-21 / 18-21

Ladies Doubles: Jess and Helen: 19-21 / 20-21

Mixed Doubles: Katie and Stuart B: 13-21 / 21-20 / 15-21

Mens Doubles: Stuart E and Het: 6-21 / 10-21

Ladies Doubles: Katie and Helen: 21-20 / 21-20

Mixed Doubles: Jess and Het: 21-17 / 20-21 / 21-15

Mens Doubles: Stuart E and Stuart B: 14-21 / 15-21

Round-up

Getting through to the quarter finals was a complete fluke – but I couldn’t be more pleased about it. Redbridge 1 being disqualified for fielding players from their second team in our match resulted in us being able to have the opportunity to tackle a club more on our level – namely Hunters.  Despite only two overall wins over the whole evening, the score lines reveal a different story and actually conceal some rather intense, light-saber racket like moments, where I must say I indulged in rather too many over-competitive yes’s after  particularly challenging points. The ladies in particular were extremely close, with all but one game going to 20-20 meaning a win or lose final point, which carried quite a lot of pressure. I believe that the ladies games were definitely the tightest that I have ever played, as well as the best and I feel that as a squad, we made them work like demons for their win. No one can say that we gave it away, or that they overpowered us – it was close, nail bitingly annoying, and furiously frustrating, especially on those 20 all rallies that kind of left you deflating as the shuttle bounced off the net. We only had a 3 point lead due to the handicap so it wasn’t a major lead or advantage.  At the end of the night, I did feel exhilarated as I feel as a team, we put in a killer performance, and although you feel you could have pulled through some more victories, I don’t think we can be disappointed with our performance.

Well done to all our of Challenge Cup team for this year for a fantastic run! Watch this space for some more detailed match analysis from your Challenge Cup team!